Wii's Last Days, Part 2: The Games

(Note: I just put the finishing touches on a paper, so if I sound a bit more formal than usual, that's why XD)

It's time to continue my look back on the Wii's life in preparation for Wii U. In Part 1 I talked about Virtual Console and WiiWare, and this time I'll be talking about the thing that makes or breaks a console for most people: new, original games.

And it's true, the Wii's library is not often seen as a powerhouse. In fact, I'd say more often it's seen as the console's biggest weakness. It's true, third party support was lacking, and some of the first party titles left people less than satisfied. But there are still a good number of great games to be found. Maybe not masterpieces, but great games nonetheless.

Nintendo systems seem to live or die by their first party games, so without even considering quality, let's see what we've got: three Marios, two Zeldas, two Metroids, two Kirbys, Super Smash Bros., Mario Kart, Animal Crossing, a Punch-Out!! revival, a Donkey Kong Country revival, Paper Mario, the Wii series (Sports, Fit, etc.). Probably a couple more I'm forgetting.

Sure, not all those are winners, but my point is Nintendo utilized quite a few of their franchises. Did they cut corners in places and not always put out the best possible product? Yes. And that's frustrating. They could have worked harder. They could have wowed us more. A few more franchises wouldn't have hurt, either (*cough*Star Fox*cough*... *cough* F-Zero*cough*). Still, I would argue the first party lineup isn't the real problem. I enjoyed quite a few of these games, and I know I'm not alone.

Third party games are obviously where the big weaknesses lie. Off the top of my head, real quality third party games I can think of would be: MadWorld, Sonic Colors, Epic Mickey, a port of Okami, Little King's Story, Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, quirky titles like Boom Blox and Zack and Wiki. I would say some Tiger Woods games turned out all right, particularly with MotionPlus. Other than that, Wii unfortunately saw lazy ports and bizarre spinoffs. I don't know who was really at fault when it comes down to it, but it was an issue. If I was talking about third party PS3 and 360 games, I'd probably still be listing them.

Personally, I got my money's worth out of Wii in this regard. I understand not everyone can say the same, and whatever gripes you have are reasonable. I found enough games that I enjoyed, and thus I can't speak ill of my experiences with the console. Bottom line is, for a lot of people, Nintendo has a lot of ground to make up. I'm looking forward to seeing if they can do that with Wii U.

Feel free to share your thoughts on the Wii's library, or maybe some of your favorite games for the system. Just try to keep it civil.